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Moral and Literary Training 



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JOHN B. PEASLEE, LL. D. 




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EDUCATION. [Nov. 

MORAL AND LITERARY TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

BY JOHN B. PEASLEE, LL. D. 

I SHALL not discuss the methods by which English literature is 
now taught in our high schools and colleges, as the literary work 
which I shall advocate in this paper will not interfere in the least with 
that which these institutions are endeavoring to accomplish, but will 
be additional and supplementary to their noble work. That my posi- 
tion may not be misunderstood, I desire to say in the outset that I 
am decidedly in favor of retaining the present systematic study of 
English literature as a distinct branch in these institutions ; instead of 
substituting anything for this work, as some erroneously suppose, I 
would give much more of it. In my opinion, however, our high- 
school courses of study in English literature should begin with the 
authors of to-day {American) and go back to Chaucer, instead of begin- 
ning with Chaucer and coming down to the present time. 

I desire, before entering fully upon my subject, to call the attention 
of educators to some of the mistakes that must be corrected before 
the public schools of our country can reach the highest standard 
of excellence in literary and moral training. One of these is the 
disproportionate amount of time given to the subject of arithmetic. 
Arithmetic has been and ever must be one of the fundamental 
branches of our common-school curriculum, and I yield to no man 
in my estimate of the importance of the subject, both in regard to 
what is usually considered as its practical bearing upon the business 
affairs of life, and its excellence as a means of mental discipline. 
Nor am I among those who would cut down the course of study in 
arithmetic to a few subjects, to those only that are generally con- 
sidered absolutely necessary for all to know, to that only which is 
called "practical." Practical! there is a higher practical than the 
mere use that some of us may make of it in adding up our grocers' 
bills, or perchance in calculating discount and interest. The mental 
discipline, the strengthening of the mind, the intellectual power that 
the scholar obtains by the study of this subject, is the real practical, 
the higher practical. It will never do to confine our courses of study 
in mathematics to that only which popular opinion considers practical. 
I object, therefore, not that there is too much ground covered in the 
arithmetic, or that it is too well taught, but that there is too much 
time given to it.* 

*NoTE. — This has grown out of the mistaken notion of parents and teachers that the 
more time there is given to a study, the more the pupils will necessarily learn of that study. 



1 88 1.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

President Andrews, of Marietta, Ohio, who is known to be exceed- 
ingly accurate in his statements, says that more than one half of the 
time of the schools of that State, outside of the cities and large 
towns, is given to arithmetic. Think of it : more time devoted to 
this one subject than to reading, writing, spelling, geography, and 
grammar combined ; none to literature and composition ! And what 
is true of the schools of Ohio in this respect is true of those of most, 
at least, of the other States. Let the teachers of these schools cut 
down the time given to this subject to within the bounds of reason ; 
introduce composition, letter-writing, and business forms ; let them 
stop working puzzles in mathematics which are about as profitable 
as the famous fifteen puzzle, and turn their attention to reading, to 
improving themselves in literature, to acquainting themselves with 
the lives and writings of great authors : and let them take the results 
of that work into their school-rooms, and they would revolutionize 
the country schools of the United States. 

In our city schools, less time, to be sure, is given in the pro- 
grammes ; still, taking into consideration the amount of home work 
required of the pupils, and the extra time taken to " bring up " the 
arithmetic, it is entirely too much. A half-hour per day in the lower 
grades, and forty minutes in the upper, are amply sufficient. But the 
teachers have been made to feel that high per cents in arithmetic are 
the sine qua non of their success ; hence, driving and cramming for 
per cents largely take the place of judicious teaching, to the great 
detriment of the pupils. 

Fellow-teachers, let us use all our influence against this cramming, 
stultifying process, this driving for per cents, and teach according 

Paradoxical as it may seem, the children of our district schools would learn just as much arith- 
metic as they now do if less than one half of the present average amount of time were given 
to it. A little child can learn something of a number of subjects, and not much of any one. 
It can learn as much arithmetic, on an average, in one hour a day as in ten ; for in the hour 
its mind will take all it can assimilate, and any attempt to teach it more than this becomes 
a cramming, a stultifying process, and defeats its own end. 

Teachers should therefore bear in mind, in making out their time-tables of study and 
recitations, that only a limited amount of time per day can be profitably given to any one 
subject in the lower grades of the schools. 

It will be remembered that in London a few years ago half-time schools were established 
for the youth who were compelled by necessity to work in factories, etc. The school 
inspectors thought, of course, the pupils who attended these schools could accomplish only 
one half as much as those who attended the full time. Imagine their surprise and aston- 
ishment to find, after careful and thorough investigation, that the half-time pupils not only 
kept up with the others, but surpassed them in their studies. Let me say here, by way of 
parenthesis, that the fault of too much study for little children lies in the direction of cram- 
ming in some of the branches, and not in the variety of studies ; that diversity in mental 
labor is less laborious than much dwelling on one or a few subjects. As many subjects, 
therefore, as can be taught well should be taught. 



EDUCATION. [No^. 

to the natural, the objective, the developing method; ip insre our 
pupils with higher and nobler aspirations than are to be found in 
monthly averages : and let the measure of time devoted to each sub- 
ject, and the methods employed in teaching the same, be determined, 
not by the question. How shall we obtain the highest per cents ? but 
by what will best benefit our pupils in after life. This done, and 
there will not only be better instruction in all the branches, but 
much more prominence will be given to language, to composition, 
and to literature ; and our youth will grow up under such tuition to 
be more intelligent, useful, and influential citizens. 

Another mistake — one which has a more direct bearing on my 
subject, as it affects the tastes of pupils for reading — is the perni- 
cious method of teaching history usually pursued. I refer to the stul- 
tifying process of compelling the children of our schools to commit to 
memory text-books in this subject. No historian, as no mineralogist 
or chemist, was ever made by committing text-books to memory. 
History cannot be taught successfully by the meinoriter plan. It 
kills the life of the subject. It disgusts the pupils and gives them 
a dislike for historical reading. As the pupils take no interest in the 
subject, it is soon forgotten, and there remains only the bitter recol- 
lection of tiresome hours devoted to what, if properly taught, brings 
profit and pleasure. As one of the principal objects of this paper 
is to show how to interest our youth in good reading, I will briefly 
explain, not only how history can be made intensely interesting and 
exceedingly instructive to pupils, but how a love of historical research 
can be implanted in them that will remain with them through life, 
and very largely influence their subsequent reading. First, all 
written percented examinations in this subject should be abolished. 
What is said in the text-book upon the topic under consideration 
should be read by the pupils under the direction of the teacher. The 
teacher should see that they thoroughly understand what they read, 
and at each lesson question them in brief review of the previous 
lesson. She should read, or cause to be read, parts of other histories 
or reference books (encyclopaedias, gazetteers, etc.) that bear upon 
the subject of the lesson. She should also give out questions, the 
answers to which the pupils are to find for themselves ; and should 
encourage them in relating historical anecdotes and in giving sketches 
of noted events to their classmates. 

But history should be taught principally by biography. Biography 
is the soul of history. The life of a great personage, as of Cromwell, 
Napoleon, or Washington, contains nearly everything of importance 
in the history of the time and country in which he lived. Nothing 



I'SSl.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

is more entert lining to t!ie young than the lives of the great men and 
women who hive borne a prominent part in the world. I am not 
advocating a new theory. This method has been tried for two years 
in Cincinnati: and in one school alone, more than five hundred histor- 
ical and biographical sketches were read within the past year ; and in 
one class, sixty-four biographical sketches were given by the pupils 
to their classmates ; and the constant allusion to other lives than 
those under actual discussion led to a wide field of further research. 
Let me say here, that in a class in United States history, I would 
not confine the biographical work to our own country, but would 
encourage the children to read and recite sketches of noted person- 
ages of other countries and of different ages. If the method briefly 
indicated above be pursued, the pupils will become enthusiastic in the 
subject of history, and will gain a vast amount of valuable informa- 
tion of which they would otherwise remain in ignorance ; but above 
all, they will form the habit of and a taste for reading good books, 
which will remain with them through life. 

Another mistake consists in giving too much time in the reading 
lesson to mere imitative reading, and not enough to logical analysis, 
to ascertaining the meaning of the words and sentences. Children 
should be impressed with the fact that the principal object of read- 
ing is to obtain the ideas and thoughts of others ; and therefore they 
should early accustom themselves to ascertaining the meaning of 
what they read, that no word, no sentence may be passed over with- 
out being understood. Let me say that the dictionary should be the 
almost constant companion of the pupils of our grammar and high 
schools. Would you neglect the elocutionary side of the subject .-* I 
am asked. By no means. . No one places a higher value on elocution^ 
on the beautiful rendering of the reading lesson, than I do ; but I 
insist that it is the duty of the teacher to see that the passage is 
thoroughly understood by the pupils before she attempts to drill 
them in th6- elocution. 

Another mistake is. to be found in the fact that the almost uni- 
versal tendency in this country, of late years, has been to crowd too 
much into the high-school course, by putting yi subjects which prop- 
erly belong to colleges and universities. To attempt, as I said in 
one of my annual reports, to make the high school a substitute for the 
college and university, must result in failure. The pupils are too 
young. They have not the maturity of mind required to comprehend 
thoroughly such a course of study. In my opinion, much of the 
present opposition to the high-school system is directly due to this 
cause. To remedy the defects and make the high schools more 



EDUCATION-. [Nov. 

efficient and popular, there should be a more judicious selection of 
studies, and much more time should be given to English literature 
and to composition. At least one lesson per day should be devoted 
to these subjects throughout the entire course. 

Gems of Literature. — Morality, if under this head may be 
placed honesty, patriotism, and good-will to men, ought to come 
within the scope of school work ; for morality in this sense is the 
dearest element of the good citizen, and the good citizen is the prime 
object of education. Our country has less lack of intelligence than 
of public honesty and private fair dealing, less lack of knowledge 
than of inclination towards a noble life ; which facts show that some- 
thing in the present order of society is either fundamentally wrong 
or deplorably weak. But where shall we seek a remedy t when 
and how begin to mend .'' The subject of moral progress does not 
belong solely to the religious world. It is not altogether a matter of 
religion ; it is a matter of that good sense, that idea of public utility 
which' considers the welfare of the immediate present, and looks 
with a benevolent eye to an improved manhood in the future. For 
morality is almost as beautiful when viewed as a guiding element to 
man in this world's transactions as it is when viewed as an essential 
to happiness in the world to come. 

We cannot serve the future of this world in a better way than in 
taking care of the present of the children. It is in our power greatly 
to elevate the world in morals. We can do this by introducing into 
our present educational system a factor whose object shall be to give 
the proper direction to the child's thoughts ; to implant in his mind 
correct conceptions of the world and his place in it, true ideas of 
his duty to his neighbor and his country and of his relations to the 
inferior world around him, which, sinking deeper and deeper with 
each generation, shall eventually supplant evil, and leave a soul 
worthy of the inspection of gods. "As a man thinketh, so is he." 
Children should be led to think properly, that they may be enabled 
to act justly and generously ; and it would be far safer both for 
them and the community if their acts were directed' \^ fixed prin- 
ciples than by sudden and untrustworthy impulses. Now, as it is 
undeniable that to many the age of maturity does not bring with 
it those established ideas of right and wrong, those healthy con- 
ceptions which characterize the model citizen, I for one feel the 
necessity for a new feature in education, whose object shall be ad- 
vancement in a moral way. I consider it our duty to attempt what 
I have indirnted above. We owe it to the pupils, as being our fel- 
low-creatures ; to the State, as being essential to that good citizen- 
ship which is the first object of free education. 



1 88 1.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The question is as to the method. My idea, as many of you know, 
is to make use of the gems of literature. 

The literature of the world embodies a universal moral creed. In 
its fulness here and there may be found the holy teachings of the 
Bible, in language pleasing to the ear of youth, and in form adapted 
to his understanding. It inculcates all the substantial teachings of 
the Scriptures without awakening the suspicion that the private realm 
of devotional form is to be invaded. 

A broad-minded selection of noble passages, though it may not be 
able to do all we could wish in a moral way, can certainly do much to 
raise men to a high moral, political, and social plane. It may not 
make men prayerful, but it can make them respectful and respectable. 
It may not give them the wisdom of statesmen, but it can make them 
intelligent voters and fervent patriots. It may not fit them for a 
future life, but it can do much towards making this one pleasant to 
themselves and for their fellow-men. It can put a light into their 
hearts that will illumine many of earth's darkest places. 

I believe that gems of literature introduced, into our schools, if 
properly taught, will be able to do these things ; partly by their own 
directive influence on the young mind, but principally as being such 
a draught upon the fountain of higher literature as shall result in 
an abiding thirst for noble reading. The right kind of reading will 
induce the right kind of thinking, and proper thinking will insure cor- 
rect acting. 

What harmony the introduction of literature into our schools 
assures us ! The religious world will get from it all it ever asked or 
expected from the Bible. The secular world will get from it nothing 
it could possibly object to. At the shrine of noble thoughts the 
devotees of all creeds may bow as brothers. Let the public schools 
be the instrument of forming this common love for the noble and 
beautiful, and who but will acknowledge they have performed a work 
of greatest utility to man, and added a thousand-fold to their present 
value as factors in human progress } Heretofore the boy's education 
has been no broader than his business expectations ; his happiness 
as a man and his worth as a citizen have not been taken into account. 
The principles are too narrow for an age that is looking for good men - 
as well as for good accountants and grammarians. They are unneces- ' 
sarily narrow : they leave, as it were, broad fields of noble soil untilled, 
and this soil must be tilled to bear fruit. For example, a man cannot be 
a patriot, except negatively, until he has been led to understand and 
value patriotism. But on abstract or grand subjects, like patriotism, 
there is an unwillingness or incapacity in most minds to think. Such 



', ' EDUCATION. [Nov. 

minds must be enlarged before patriotism can be anything to them 
but a barren name ; but may not patriotic passages, under a wise 
teacher, promote the necessary growth ? For who, even among the 
educated, has not felt a tinge of. shame at the dulness of his own 
patriotism on reading Grimke's beautiful lines, " We cannot honor 
our country with too deep a reverence. We cannot love her with 
an affection too pure and fervent. We cannot serve her with an 
energy of purpose or a faithfulness of zeal too steadfast and ardent. 
And what is our country t It is not the East, with her hills and 
her valleys, with her countless sails, and the rocky ramparts of her 
shores. It is not the North, with her thousand villages and her 
harvest-home, with her frontiers of the lake and the ocean. It is not 
the West, with her forest-sea and her inland isles, with her luxuriant 
expanses clothed in the verdant corn, with her beautiful Ohio and 
her majestic Missouri. Nor is it yet the South, opulent in the 
mimic snow of her cotton, in the rich plantations of the rustling cane, 
and in the golden robes of her rice-fields. What are these but the 
sister families of one greater, better, holier family, — our country ? " 
Or Scott's, beginning, — 

" Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
' This is my own, my native land ' ? " 

What I have said! of patriotism applies to all the elements of 
great-mindedness. , 

The practice, therefore, of memorizing the choice thoughts of our 
best writers should be made a prominent feature of school work. 
Oliver Wendell Holmes says, "There is no place which an author's 
thoughts can nestle in so securely as the memory of a school-boy or 
a school-girl." It is also in accord with the advice of Arthur Helps, 
who says, " We, should lay up in our minds a store of goodly 
thoughts in well-wrought words, which shall be a living treasure of 
knowledge always with us, and from which, at various times, and 
amidst all the shifting of circumstances, we may be sure of drawing 
some comfort, guidance, and sympathy." 

The idea of its introduction is not new in the history of education. 
In a similar manner the Germans have been long in the habit of 
training their children in the knowledge and admiration of the litera- 
ture of their own land. The Arabs, the most civilized nation of the 
ancient world, taught their young to repeat the undying thoughts 
of their poets, under the beautiful name of "unstrung pearls." 



l88l.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Plato pictures the boys on long benches in the schools of Greece, 
receiving moral instruction through learning and reciting the poetry 
of her classic authors. 

For the greater part, the selections for the younger children 
should consist of entire pieces, and of such as are calculated to 
develop their emotional natures — the imagination, love of home and 
parents, kindness to dumb animals, etc. — and to give them correct 
rules of action. Those for the more advanced pupils should consist 
principally of brief extracts, containing grand and ennobling thoughts 
calculated to incite them to higher aspirations in life, to lead them 
into pure fields of English literature, and to teach them to love and 
reverence our great authors. In the selection of gems, poetry has 
the preference, for it inculcates a double beauty, — beauty as thought 
and beauty as composition. It is more easily committed, and as 
a rule longer retained. " The taste for harmony, the poetical ear," 
says Miss Aiken, "if ever acquired, is so almost in infancy. The 
flow of numbers easily impresses itself on the memory, and is with 
difficulty erased. By the aid of verse, a store of beautiful imagery 
and glowing sentiment may be gathered up as the amusement of 
childhood, which in riper years may beguile the heavy hours of lan- 
guor, solitude, and sorrow; may enforce sentiments of piety, humil- 
ity, and tenderness ; may soothe the soul to calmness, rouse it to 
honorable exertions, or fire it with virtuous indignation." 

"They who have known what it is," remarks Willmott, in "Pleas- 
sure, etc., of Literature," "when afar from books, in solitude, or in 
travelling, or in intervals of worldly care, to feed on poetical recollec- 
tions, to recall the sentiments and images which retain by association 
the charm that early years once gave them, will feel the inestimable 
value of committing to memory, in the prime of its power, what 
it will receive and indelibly retain. He who has drunk from the 
pure springs of intellect in his youth will continue to draw from 
them in the heat, the burden, and the decline of the day. The cor- 
rupted streams of popular entertainment flow by him unregarded." 

The great Coleridge says, " Poetry has been to me ' an exceeding 
great reward.' It has soothed my afflictions ; it has multiplied and 
refined my enjoyments ; it has endeared my solitude ; and it has given 
me the habit of wishing to discover the good and beautiful in all 
that meets and surrounds me." 

All the selections should be recited in concert and individually" 
from the platform. 

You are aware that years ago it was almost the universal custom 
for teachers to set apart Friday afternoon for declamation ; but the 



EDUCATION. [Nov. 

exercise in declamation differed widely from memorizing and reciting 
gems of thought, which I advocate. Then the pupils were permit- 
ted to commit to memory whatever they thought best. The result 
was, that in a majority of cases the selections contained no literary 
or other merit. They were made more from a desire on the part 
of the pupil to have something " new," or to create a laugh, than 
from any other cause. The time spent in committing such pieces 
was, in my opinion, worse than wasted, for there was nothing in 
them worth remembering. Their effect was to vitiate the tastes 
of the pupils for good literature, rather than to give them a love of 
it. It was not so much what the pupils memorized, as how they 
declaimed. In short, everything was sacrificed to declamation. In 
my opinion, declamation, a subject almost entirely neglected in pub- 
lic schools of late years, is a very valuable exercise. Its tendency is 
to give pupils confidence in themselves ; to make them more self- 
possessed ; and above all, to make them better readers. These 
worthy objects can be better accomplished by reciting "gems " than 
by declaiming long pieces, as was formerly the custom ; for every 
member, even of an entire class, can recite a short extract within the 
time of an ordinary recitation, and each learn from hearing the others 
declaim the same selection. But important as declamation is in 
itself, it is secondary to the great object I desire to accomplish: viz., 
storing the minds of our youth with grand and ennobling thoughts, 
clothed in beautiful language ; thoughts that will incite them to noble 
aspirations in life ; thoughts that inculcate virtue, patriotism, love of 
God, of father, of mother, kindness to dumb animals, and that give 
correct rules of action. 

How TO TEACH. — At Icast one hour per week should be given 
to this literary work in all the district, grammar, and high schools 
throughout the country. 

In Cincinnati, a part of this time is taken from that assigned to 
morning exercises, and a part from Friday afternoon. However, this 
is left to the discretion of the teacher. 

I recommend eight lines as a fair amount for each week's work. 
At this rate the pupils, in passing through the district and grammar 
schools, would commit 2,560 lines, and in passing through the dis- 
trict, grammar, and^high schools, 3,840 lines, which is equivalent in 
amount to one hundred and twenty-eight pages of one of our Fifth 
Readers. 

Important as it is, it is not enough that the pupils simply mem- 
orize the selections. Each one of them should be made the subject 
of a lesson to be given by the teacher. 



l88l.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. T 

For example, in presenting to the pupils for memorizing this beau- 
tiful passage from Whittier's " Snow Bound," — 

" Alas for him who never sees 
The stars shine through his cypress-trees ! 
Who, hopeless, lays his dead away, 
Nor looks to see the breaking day 
Across the mournful marbles play ! 
Who hath not learned in hours of faith 

The truth, to flesh and sense unknown. 
That Life is ever lord of Death, 

And Love can never lose its own," — 

the teacher should give a talk on the immortality of the soul, on 
the fond anticipation of meeting our dear ones beyond the grave, on 
the deplorable condition of him who does not believe in the future 
life. She should speak of the beauties of "Snow Bound," the 
greatest American idyl, and give the connection in which these lines 
occur ; should bring out the meaning of " the stars shine through his 
cypress-trees " and every other expression : in brief, should see that 
the pupils thoroughly understand every word and phrase ; that they 
give the substance of the passage in their own language and make 
the proper application of the same, before requiring them to commit 
it to memory. But above all, she should endeavor to imbue their 
minds with the spirit of the extract. 

Again, suppose a lesson is to be given on the protection of insect- 
destroying birds, — and such lessons should be given in every school- 
house in the land : how could it be more impressively done than by 
telling the story of the " Birds of Killingworth," by Longfellow, and 
drawing from it the lesson intended to be conveyed by the author, 
and then fixing that lesson in the minds of the pupils by having them 
memorize (after thorough preparation) the following noble lines of 
the Preceptor .-' — 

" Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these ? 

Do you ne'er think who made them, and who taught 
The dialect they speak, where melodies 

Alone are the interpreters of thought ? 
Whose household words are songs in many keys. 

Sweeter than instrument of man e'er caught .-' 
Whose habitations in the tree-tops even 
Are half-way houses on the road to heaven ! 
Think every morning when the sun peeps through 

The dim leaf-latticed windows of the grove, 
How jubilant the happy birds renew 

Their old melodious madrigals of love ! 
And when you think of this, remember too 
'T is always morning somewhere, and above 
The awakening continents, from shore to shore. 
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore." 

VOL. II. II 



EDUCATION. [Nov. 

Yes, in this beautiful world that God has made for us, 

" 'T is always morning somewhere, and above 
The awakening continents, from shore to shore, 
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore." 

What an opportunity is given in this work for our teachers to 
impart moral instruction; to cultivate the emotional nature of chil- 
dren ; to inspire them with a love of the noble, the good, and the true ! 
Such instruction must bear beautiful fruits. 

After the selection has been thoroughly memorized, the attention 
of the teacher should be given to the elocution, — to the beautiful 
delivery of the same. This can be well done by concert drill. The 
concert should be supplemented by individual recitation. If, how- 
ever, for want of time, any part of the work indicated above has to 
be neglected, it should be the individual recitation. As I said before, 
declamation is secondary to the committal to memory of literary gems. 

As the value of these extracts to one in after life will depend in 
no small degree upon the accuracy with which they are memorized 
in youth, the teacher should see that they are committed to memory, 
word for word. In order to do this, time should be taken from the 
grammar or language lessons for the pupils to write the extracts 
from memory. This would also be an excellent practical exercise 
in capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. 

Let me say here, that this literary work trains the memory : there 
is perhaps no weaker point in the school system of our country than 
the frequent neglect of this absolute necessity in child culture. The 
memory needs as much strengthening by exercise as the rnuscles of 
the arm ; but it should be employed, as here, in storing the mind 
with what is zvorth remembering. 

It also enriches the vocabulary of the pupils by giving them many 
new words and beautiful combinations, whereby they will obtain a 
better command over the English language. 

The teachers should give sketches of the lives and writings of the 
best and most worthy authors, at least to all the pupils above the 
fourth year of school, and encourage them to find out for themselves 
interesting facts concerning these authors and their works, and to 
reproduce them either in compositions or in oral talks before their 
classmates, as I have already recommended in connection with the 
lessons on history. I also recommend that the teacher, or a pupil 
under her advice, read the entire piece, when appropriate, from which 
the extract is taken, or some other selection from the same author : 
as one of " Timothy Titcomb's " letters, by J. G. Holland ; a story 
from Hawthorne's "Wonder Book"; a selection from "The Auto- 
crat of the Breakfast-Table," etc. 



1 88 1.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. " 't 

The name of the author, when known (I require the full name), 
should be given at the close of each reading or recitation, in order to 
associate in the minds of the children the author's name with the 
selection. 

In connection with this moral and literary training, and as a part 
of it, let me urge the importance of celebrating the birthdays of dis- 
tinguished and worthy authors. 

These celebrations may consist of compositions on the life of the 
writer, of the recitation of gems by entire classes or grades, of decla- 
mation, of reading, of singing, and of appropriate talks by teachers 
and friends of the schools. 

Authorial-birthday celebrations interest the pupils in the writer 
and his works as nothing else can. They educate the whole com 
munity. The celebration of the birthdays of Whittier and Long- 
fellow and Holmes and the Gary sisters and others has caused an 
increased demand for their books ; and every good book that goes into 
a family is a moral and educational force. I repeat, every good book 
that goes into a family is a moral and educational force. It has not 
only multiplied the number of their readers, but that of many other 
of the great authors in American and English literature. 

Longfellow and Whittier and Holmes, names unknown to the 
children of Cincinnati three years ago, are now as familiar to them 
as those of their own playmates. Hereafter they will be looked 
upon by the youth of that city not only as great and noble writers, 
but as dear old friends whom they fondly love. To me, this attach- 
ment of the children to those great and pure men is a touching and 
pleasing result of the celebrations. 

These celebrations, from year to year, should include not only 
poets and prose writers, but also great statesmen and distinguished 
scientists and inventors. 

" The poets who in song translate 
Emotions they alone have read. 
The patriots stern, who challenge fate. 

And walk with more than mailed tread. 
The sages who the truth distil, — 
Let these the child love if he will." 

Joseph W. Miller. 

But we should celebrate those only who have led pure and noble 
lives, whose moral character and private worth will call forth the admi- 
ration of the children and set them examples worthy of imitation. 

Two or three celebrations a year are all the best interests of our 
schools demand, but these should be made as grand and impressive 



EDUCATION. [Nov. 

as possible ; for the greater the interest that is created in the author 
and his writings, the better it will be for the pupils. After the birth- 
day of an authoi has been celebrated, it should be appropriately- 
observed from year to year, by devoting from fifteen minutes to half an 
hour to the recitation of gem-thoughts, and to review talks on his life 
and writings. 

Having completed my suggestions on the methods of instruction, 
and the scope of this moral literary work, I desire to call your atten- 
tion for a few minutes more fully to the good that will be accom- 
plished by its general introduction into our schools. 

Dime-Novel Reading. — One of the greatest powers for evil is 
the low and degrading writings our boys and girls are reading. 
Even educators, I fear, are not fully aroused to the terrible influence 
this reading is exerting upon the lives and characters of the young. 

Some three years ago, in a lecture on " Fiction," before a Boston 
audience, the late Mr. Fields said that he visited the Pomeroy boy in 
prison, a few days previous, and asked him if he had ever read much. 
"Yes," replied the boy, "I have read a great deal." — "Well, what 
have you read } " — " Principally dime novels." — " What novel did you 
like best?" — "Buffalo Bill, because it is full of murders and pictures 
of murders." Doubtless this boy is naturally depraved, but the 
immediate cause of his committing his horrible acts was the class of 
reading in which he indulged. A year or two ago, a number of lads 
from wealthy and refined families of New York City, through the 
degrading influence of dime-novel reading, organized themselves into 
a band of burglars. Last year two youths murdered an old gentle- 
man in Ohio, from the same cause. How frequently we read in the 
daily papers of boys running away from home with cards, revolvers, 
and dime novels in their pockets ! 

Yet, compared to the vast numbers of our youth who are demor- 
alized by pernicious reading, the cases that are reported in public 
print are the exceptions. The influence of this reading is seen in 
the slang language in which our youth indulge ; in their disrespect 
for parental authority ; in their treatment of the aged ; in the wrong 
ideas of life which they entertain ; and in the general spirit of 
insubordination. 

Let us look at the circumstances in which our youth are placed in 
regard to literature. 

At the homes of a large part of them there is scarcely a book, 
except the text-books of the children themselves. At the homes of 
a majority of those remaining may be found a few books upon the 
parlor table, which are usually considered by the parent as too nice 



l88l.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

for the children to read; It is safe to say that very few indeed of 
our youth have access to a good home library. That child who is 
trained at home to a love of reading good books is the exception. 
Is it any wonder, then, that our youth yield to the temptation to 
read the worst kind of story papers and novels, which are everywhere 
thrown around them ? In addition to other enticements, we find 
near all the large school buildings of our cities, shops which keep, 
besides pens, pencils, and sckool-books, a large assortment of trashy 
story papers and novels. What a comment on the public schools ! 
The venders of these papers place those having pictures of murders 
and Indian outrages, etc., in the windows. The children, attracted 
by these pictures, buy the papers and read the stories. They soon 
become intensely interested in the stories and in the slang language 
in which they are written. The boys and girls buy novels of the 
same or of a worse tendency for from five to ten cents. These are 
purchased and devoured, and thus by degrees is formed the habit of 
reading this pernicious ckiss of writings. The children are not to 
blame. There is nothing in their home surroundings to counteract 
these evil tendencies. The schools have been standing by, saying, 
" Don't touch, don't touch," but doing nothing to interest the pupils 
in good reading. 

Knowing from experience, as I do, that it is in the power of the 
schools to control almost entirely the reading of the pupils, and to 
implant in them correct literary tastes, I appeal to boards of educa- 
tion, to superintendents and teachers, to take immediate and decisive 
steps to make this literary training in all the grades a prominent 
feature of school work ; as the only effectual way to keep the youth 
of our country from reading the terrible dime novel is to interest them 
in the writings of good authors, and this must be done, if at all, by 
the schools. 

Literature as a Distinct Branch. — Under the present sys- 
tem, the study of literature as a distinct branch of education is not 
attempted till the tenth year of school, when but one in twenty is 
remaining in school ; and I will guarantee that former classes in the 
high schools gathered fewer of the pearls of literature at the comple- 
tion of their course than is possible with the common-school classes 
under the plan now in operation in Cincinnati. And it should not 
be forgotten that the one in twenty that takes the high-school course 
is the one for whose welfare we need have but little apprehension. 
We can trust him. It is among the nineteen who fall by the wayside 
that we shall find subjects for our misgivings. It is here that we 
must exert ourselves as formers of character and developers of taste. 



^ ', EDUCATION. [Nov 

In other words, if literature has any elevating influences, its fittest 
field is the common school ; for here those influences are most in 
demand, and here is the single opportunity of reaching a large and 
especially needy class of pupils. 

But let us look at the matter in another light. Pupils have here- 
tofore entered upon the study of literature in the high schools with 
almost no previous knowledge of literary character or development 
of literary taste. The result of gem-learning, in addition to its grand 
object, the ennobling of the mind, will be to lay the foundation for 
deeper literary culture in advanced pupils, — to activate the mind 
in this direction, and so store it with knowledge that the commence- 
ment of this branch of education in the high schools shall be further 
advanced than its termination has been heretofore. 

The Children interested in Gem-Learning. — I have never 
known anything in school work that interested children more than 
this. The interest, too, is not confined to the upper grades, but 
pervades all the classes, from the first year of school through the 
high school. 

Children love to commit to memory beautiful selections, and recite 
them at home and at school. They love to hear of the lives and writings 
of good authors, and to talk about them to their fathers and mothers. . 

Again, these literary exercises relieve the monotony of school. 
Their tendency is to give the pupils a love of school, and therefore to 
secure a more regular and larger attendance. They do much to 
make the school strong with the people, an object that every teacher 
should endeavor to accomplish. 

In conclusion, I desire to call your attention to the remarks of Mrs. 
Elizabeth Gale, of Mt. Healthy, Ohio, as they present the subject 
of memorizing selections in another light. Mrs. Gale is the aunt of 
J. G. Holland. "Dear old aunt," writes Dr. Holland, "she is the 
only living link that binds me to the last generation." Mrs. Gale, 
though ninety-three years of age on the 17th of last December, — 
Whittier's birthday, — is bright and intelligent. 

It was one of the happiest moments of my life when that dear old 
lady, then in her ninety-third year, holding in her hand a pamphlet of 
selections I had sent her, said to me, "Mr. Peaslee, you don't know 
how much good you are doing by introducing these selections into 
the schools. You don't know how the children will appreciate them 
when they are old ; what a source of consolation they will be to them 
then ; how they will love to say them over and over again. Why," 
said she, " thinking over and repeating the little pieces I learned in 
childhood is one of the greatest comforts left me now." 



1 88 1.] MORAL TRAINING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

She then recited a number of selections. Among them was one 
entitled " To my Watch," which she learned at home when a child 
only four years of age, from hearing her brothers recite it. I had the 
piece written from her dictation, and printed, with the change, sug- 
gested by Dr. Holland, of a single word. 

TO MY WATCH. 

Little monitor, by thee 
Let me learn what I should be ; 
I '11 learn the round of life to fill. 
Useful and progressive still. 

Thou canst gentle hints impart 
How to regulate the heart ; 
When I wind thee up at night, 
Mark each fault and set it right ; 
Let me search my bosom, too. 
And my daily thoughts review. 

I '11 mark the movements of my mind. 
Nor be easy when I find 
Latent errors rise to view, 
Till all be regular and true. 

This incident needs no comment from me. It tells, more strongly 
than any words of my own, of how wonderfully the memory retains 
little pieces committed to its precious care in early childhood. 

Yes, these beautiful selections will be remembered and will influ- 
ence our children for good when the technicalities of their grammar, 
the abstrusities of their arithmetic, and the obscure locations of their 
geographies are forgotten. 



EDUCATION: 

An International Magazine, 

DEVOTED TO 

The Science, the Art, the Philosophy, and the 
Literature of Education. 



Vol. I.— SEPTEMBER— OCTOBER, 1880.— No. I. 

CONTENTS. 

Frontispiece, Steel Engraving of Bamas Sears, D. D., LL. D. 
I. Text-Books and their Uses. IVm. T. Harris, LL. D. 
II. Harmony in Systems of Education. James McCosh, D. D. 

III. Educational Progressin the United States during the last Fifty Years. Bamas Sears, D.D., E.L.Dt 

IV. The Renascence and Us Influence on Education. Rev. R. H. Quick, A, M. 
V. University Examinations for Women. Miss E. T. Lander. 

VI. Persephone. A Poem. Mrs. Louisa P. Hopkins. 

VII. A Southern View of Education. Prqf. Edward S. jfoynes. 

VIII. President Hayes's Address on Education. Rev. A . D. Mayo. 

IX. Editorials. — Reasons for the new Educational Magazine. — The Mundella Educational Bill. — The 

Concord School of Philosophy. — " State Education a Help or Hindrance." 
X. Literature. ^ 

Vol. I. — NOVEMBER — DECEMBER, 1880. — No. II. 

CONTENTS. 

Frontispiece, Steel Engraving of Don Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, LL. D., Buenos Ayres. 
I. Results of Methods of Teaching. Hon. John W. Dickinson. 
II. Technical Training in American Schools. E. E. White, LL. D. 

III. The Qumcy Methods. B. G. Northrop, LL. D. 

IV. Schopenhauer on Education. Translated \>y G A- Hill, A. M. 
V. Moral Training in our Public Schools. George Howland, A . M. 

VI. Over a New Road. A nna C. Brackett, 

VII. An Experiment in Reading Greek at Sight. A . C. Merriam, Ph. D. 

VIII. Object Teaching: its Purpose and Province. Prof. N. A Calkins. 

IX. Learning or Training: Which? Albert Prescott Marble, Ph. D. 

X. The Renascence and Its Influence on Education. Rev. R. H .Quick, A. M. 

XI. The Relation of Normal-School Work to the State. S N. Fellows, D. D. 

XII. Editorials. — Mr. Thomas Hughes' Visit to America. — Prosperity and Education. — Missionary 

Educators. — Education in Paris. 

XIII. Literature. 

Vol. I. — JANUARY— FEBRUARY, 1881. — No. III. 

CONTENTS, 

Frontispiece, Steel Engraving of William T. Harris, LL. D. 

I. Four Centuries of Scotch Education. Johtt Russell, F. E. I. S., F. R. H. S., London. 
II. The Function of the Thinker in Edu cation. H. H. Morgan, A . M., St. Louis. 

III. The Best Method of Examining and Certificating Teachers. Pro/. H E, Shepherd, Baltimore. 

IV. Should Public High Schools be placed under Local Authorities and State Supervision ? An English 

View of the Question. Prof. S S. Laurie, A M., F.R.S. E., Edinburgh. 
V. History in its Relations to Practical Life. Selah Howell, A M., Boston. 
VI. The Sacredness of Personality a First Pri nciple of Froebel's Methods ■ Elizabeth P. Peabody, Concord. 
VII. The Lancastrian System. E. O, Vaile, Chicago. 
VIII. A Shrine to Poetry. Joshua Kendall, A. M., Cambridge. 
IX. International Convention of Instructors of Deaf-Mutes at Milan. Edward M. Gallaudet, Ph. D., 
LL. D., Washington. 

X. Instruction of Deaf-Mutes. Miss Susanna E. Hale, London. 

XI. Common Sense in Classics: Attic Greek and Augustan Latin. E R. Humphreys, LL.D., Boston. 
XII. Whichis the True Ideal of the Public School? John D. Philbrick, LL.D., Boston. 



Vol. I. — MARCH— APRIL, 1881. — No. IV. 

CONTENTS. 

Frontispiece, Steel Engraving of Thomas Sherwin, Late Head-Master Boston English High School. 
I. The British Race. Prof. J. H. Seeley, author of Ecce Homo, England. 
II. The Peabody Agency. 

III. Richard Grant V/hite vs. The Public Schools of the United States. B. G. L ovejoy, Washington, D.C. 

IV. Is our Public-School System a Success ? George J. Luckey, Pittsburg, Pa. 

V. Real Education: *Its Principles and a Little-Known Chapter in its History. William Jo'ly, A. M., 
H. M. S., Scotland. 

VI. The Printing Press as an Instrument of Education. Wm. T. Harris, LL, D. 

VII. Sketch of Thomas Sherwin. John D. Philbrick, LL. D. 

VIII. Didactics in Iowa University. S. N. Fellows, LL D. 

IX. The New English High School, Boston, with Engraving. * 

X. Archsology. — Philology. — Science and Art. Prof. R. F. Leigkton, Ph. D. 



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